What was it like in the 60's and 70's?

I've been talking with some older guys about what music was like in the 60's and 70's and it's very interesting to me. I really wonder what it'd be like to have lived back then. 

This is what I've heard: 

The first thing is that supposedly the time that a record would spend on the shelves was very limited. As opposed to nowadays where you can go into a record store and find albums that span a bands entire career, it was like by the time Red was released, you couldn't find ITCOTCK in stores anywhere. When it came to obscure albums on less successful labels, it was even more exaggerated. Original albums by bands like Capability Brown (just as a for example) are so rare because their albums were taken off of the shelf only weeks after the album was released, and not stocked in many stores to begin with. And after they'd been removed, it isn't likely that you'd ever hear about the record in the first place, or be able to order it. And the radio was similar. By 1970 you'd never hear a song from Sgt Peppers or something because 3 years was considered "old." There was also a supposed gap in band audiences. The guys that listened to Black Sabbath weren't the same people that listened to The Beatles, for example (though this wasn't true for everyone, I'm sure.) 

Also I'm pretty sure it was very divided by country, so getting stuff like Amon Duul II in the states would have been very difficult. 

I'm pretty sure if I lived back then, I'd end up buying every album I saw that seemed like prog, psych, or heavy music. 

We have it so easy nowadays to be able to get any album we want with barely moving a muscle, and to receive such a huge amount of recommendations when it comes to what we listen to. 

And then not to mention concert tickets. Nowadays we all buy them online, but I think that people rarely bought tickets in advanced except for arena shows and for those arena shows, they had to wait in line for hours and hours to get a good seat. 

Also supposedly people didn't buy actual LPs until well into the 60's. It was very much the norm to listen to 45's.

But that's just what I've heard. I wasn't there so I'm not sure. 

If anyone has any stories about what it was like back then, I'd be very interested to hear. 

Edited by Jake Kobrin - August 28 2011 at 13:36

1.  I bought Yes's whole back catalog on 8-track extremely cheap when they were being phased out.  It got to the point where you could pick up an album for 50 cents.

It's a disturbing thought that I could have been around when Amon Düül II were beginning, and not ever discover them.

Tony R wrote: It's a rather bizarre notion but in those days people would buy albums based on the cover art. Hence why some cover artists became famous in their own right.

This is true, I remember people buying albums by the cover art alone. The album cover art and the information that accompanied the record were just as important as the music.

Jake Kobrin wrote: I've been talking with some older guys about what music was like in the 60's and 70's and it's very interesting to me. I really wonder what it'd be like to have lived back then.  It was a very interesting time, but it was a struggle to obtain British imports because we had no internet. Mail order sources were listed only in selective music magazines and if you couldn't find them in the news agency of your town...then you would have to travel to a big city. This is what I've heard:  The first thing is that supposedly the time that a record would spend on the shelves was very limited. As opposed to nowadays where you can go into a record store and find albums that span a bands entire career, it was like by the time Red was released, you couldn't find ITCOTCK in stores anywhere. This was true only to an extent on the east coast. For short periods of time the album was difficult to find. It was re-released a few times with a cheap cover. The original was a hard back cover.     T When it came to obscure albums on less successful labels, it was even more exaggerated. Original albums by bands like Capability Brown (just as a for example) are so rare because their albums were taken off of the shelf only weeks after the album was released, and not stocked in many stores to begin with. And after they'd been removed, it isn't likely that you'd ever hear about the record in the first place, or be able to order it. And the radio was similar. By 1970 you'd never hear a song from Sgt Peppers or something because 3 years was considered "old." There was also a supposed gap in band audiences. The guys that listened to Black Sabbath weren't the same people that listened to The Beatles, for example (though this wasn't true for everyone, I'm sure.)   I don't recall this ever happening? Maybe the popularity of the Beatles seemed less due to this new birth of Black Sabbath fans i don't know? During the time of the first Black Sabbath release....I still heard Sgt. Peppers on Philadelphia radio stations. They also played Arthur by the Kinks. In 1970...many kids I knew in high school who bought that first Sabbath album...eventually ended up leaving Sabbath behind for Glitter Rock. After the release of Sabbath Vol. 4  there was less interest in the band. Sabbath picked up a new generation of fans. Kids maybe 3 years younger than me who purchased Sabbath Bloody Sabbath and were not that keen on earlier albums which hailed from my generation of kids. I remember being 15 years old, buying the first Sabbath album and having all my sister's hippie friends inform me that the album was garbage.   Also I'm pretty sure it was very divided by country, so getting stuff like Amon Duul II in the states would have been very difficult. Amon Duul II was released in the U.S. on United Artists but I could only locate it in cut out bins in department stores. European underground prog music was very difficult to find on the east coast. A guy named Marty who used to sell imports out of the back of his station wagon opened Jem Records in the industrial park in South Plainfield and North Plainfield N.J. You could order from Jem yourself or have the record shops do it. Archie Patterson who was affiliated with Green World on the west coast formed Eurock continued to carry the torch for prog and electronic. Steve F. opened Wayside Music in Maryland which sold the early RIO stuff on LP and obscure prog from various countries. Because these guys were so determined to push prog that was long deleted in the U.S. on domestic labels....it made things a whole lot easier for people like me who were collectors.If you didn't have these particular mail order connections you were in the dark because not all shops did special import ordering.   I'm pretty sure if I lived back then, I'd end up buying every album I saw that seemed like prog, psych, or heavy music.  We have it so easy nowadays to be able to get any album we want with barely moving a muscle, and to receive such a huge amount of recommendations when it comes to what we listen to.  And then not to mention concert tickets. Nowadays we all buy them online, but I think that people rarely bought tickets in advanced except for arena shows and for those arena shows, they had to wait in line for hours and hours to get a good seat.  Also supposedly people didn't buy actual LPs until well into the 60's. It was very much the norm to listen to 45's. This seems to a degree very true. If memory serves...people would for example buy a single or 45 rpm THEN they might purchase the album and take a liking to it. 45's were the warm up stage for the customer to become interested in the album. Except for situations where kids would by the Paperback Writer/Rain single and become interested in buying the current Beatles album only to discover that neither one of the songs were featured. But that's just what I've heard. I wasn't there so I'm not sure.  If anyone has any stories about what it was like back then, I'd be very interested to hear.

Edited by TODDLER - August 28 2011 at 15:53

wandererfromtx wrote: Tony R wrote: It's a rather bizarre notion but in those days people would buy albums based on the cover art. Hence why some cover artists became famous in their own right. This is true, I remember people buying albums by the cover art alone. The album cover art and the information that accompanied the record were just as important as the music.

I'm 50. So I grew up listening to the music of the seventies. I must have been on another planet, because I dont agree with most of what I read hereby, really. Maybe US was another planet then (but I doubt it having seen several films about the era...) but here in Europe the situation was not that!
First of all: in the seventies no TV show, no rock magazine was making choices. The market was! I mean, if a band or artist was selling hard, it was on display everywhere. And that happened because the record companies based band selection on the quality of the concerts, THEN a band was allowed to make records! So the ones who got into a studio were absolute quality bands. Talent selection was the key to every company.
Today record companies just buy finished records, dont take risk, just put on the market everything, hoping that enough people will buy to cover the cost. Back then to record music cost millions.
So as an adolescent I was happy to see every week end a concert of Yes, of Genesis, or Deep Purple, or Styx (you pick) and discover new music. The very same bands came in concert in near cities and venues of HUNDREDS of sitting places, for the price of a record. And the record were not expensive...If you consider the production cost of a vinyl and those of cds, the latter should cost MAX 10 dollars each new, situation reached only in the last 4-5 years.
Was it difficult to get records of less known bands? Maybe, but not impossible. What was really difficult was to get bootlegs, usually japan ones, because illegal and very very expensive.
But the most important thing: not every day you had new records coming out. So when a band was publishing a new LP it was an event. I remember many many evening spent with friends in my tiny room listening to the new Banco, tha last Santana or the magical double (DOUBLE) album of Genesis. So a record was playing for months, not days like today. This is probably the worst limit of Prog Archives: lack of historical sight.
But hey, music is just music, so a matter of taste. Personally, having become a musician myself, I recall with the same pathos the first time I heard "Burn" , "Foxtrot", "Aqualung", "Atom heart mother", but also the first Asia, the first Dream Theater, not to mention when I saw at cinema show "The song remains the same" or singing all togheter Red on the beach with my girlfriend, and all other listening. I was lucky. 71 to 76 was the best music period ever for rock, and back then rack was only rock, against jazz, classic and country (for old people...)

Scandy/Shakary

it was pretty much like it is now, just with better music and the constant threat of nuclear annihilation ..

it is true that many records - and a lot of other things - simply weren't available, and there was no medium by which to locate them other than going to the source








Edited by Atavachron - August 28 2011 at 18:55

In the 70's kids who studied classical piano and were from Philadelphia or N.Y. .....and how Julliard of me to say this....were serious minded and devoted to the max. Many of them studied with teachers in the Philadelphia area who were high priced and had played with Orchestras. The kids I'm making reference to were teens in the 70's and Keith Emerson was really huge at that time. I can't possibly recall how many bands I played in ..but many I did and these keyboardists would show for auditions setting up a rack of keyboards like the rig of Emerson. Many of them had mastered Tarkus. Imagine growing up around the world of musicians. College musicians, studio players,etc and watching them take on the role of prog was mind blowing to me.

Eventually musicians from the New England states and borderline Canada down to Florida were mastering prog and performing it live making solid bucks. I was making a thousand dollars a week and sometimes less....but 6 nights a week up and down the east coast playing prog. It was insane and is unheard of today. Although today we have prog tribute bands and I don't know too much about their financial status. But in the 70's to be making that much money playing music which is today for most people unknown? I really miss doing that. It's another lifetime.

 

Most musicians eventually became aware of the underground prog scene in Europe. American musicians began buying Van Der Graff Generator, Goblin. Gong, Vangelis, Steve Hillage, National Health,...Oh God....the underground prog was played on WXPN out of Philadelphia. Those were great times! Jade Warrior's Island period was even praised. Not just musicians because there is no sense in being big-headed about the reality. People in the world were interested in this prog movement because NO.1...they had just survived the 60's and that decade had expressed to everyone that it was possible to play what would be defined as progressive elements in music. This is back when Top 40 hit bands like Lovin' Spoonful were adding strange progressive hooks in their music. And so by the 70's it had become a full composition in musical approach. No.2....people in the world then were conditioned to appreciate musicianship in music. They wanted to hear and know the musician's abilities even if it were present in hit songs. You could never re-live that because of it's magnitude. It's source and all the thousands of people making effort to reach out to it, purchase the records, live and breath it just almost like the musicians themselves. Think about it? How could that environment ever develop and reach that plateau again?  

cstack3 wrote: Wish I could convert my memories into video!  The hippies in downtown Chicago selling underground newspapers, the head shops selling hash pipes, the record stores, the bra-less chicks!!  Loved it!

come to S.F., that's daily life  (well there are also bra-less men, but that's another story)